In just over two weeks, on Saturday, 4 May, we host Ukrainian underground legend and violinist Valentina Goncharova, plus the Berlin premieres of zitherist Blue Lake and jazz saxophonist Zoh Amba playing solo at our Kiezsalon Opening. These artists follow Friday’s lineup of Ka Baird, Josephine Foster and Antonina Nowacka, together inaugurating our Kiezsalon season for 2024 at the 150-year old Zionskirche.
Tickets for each evening are sold separately and, as always, they are 10 euros each.
Valentina Goncharova (UA)
Saturday, 4 May 2024
Historically informed violin player, prize-winning street musician, new age experimentalist, chamber ensemble performer and conservatoire deviant – Valentina Goncharova boasts a layered musical legacy.
Her immense output dating back to the 1970s “offers a window into a lesser-known Soviet history of experimental music,” writes The Guardian, her music is “made for personal pleasure; as exploration, and therein lies its magnetism”. At Kiezsalon, witness Valentina’s unmissable and incredibly free synthesis of electro-acoustic, noise and new-age tropes.
Her multiplicity as a composer can be heard further on her once lost and since re-released recordings from 1987-1991.
Blue Lake (DK)
Saturday, 4 May 2024
Behind Blue Lake is Texan Jason Dungan, whose instruments of choice include a self-built, 48-string zither.
In 2023, Tonal Union issued Sun Arcs, marked by its meditative layering that got named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork, who praised its picturesque tracks that invoke an “intimate view, one that can feel both magical in its simplicity and all the more compelling for what’s just out of frame.”
Zoh Amba (US)
Saturday, 4 May 2024
Zoh Amba is a composer and saxophonist with an avant-garde blend of folk melodies, mesmerising refrains, and repeated incantations.
“Hearing Amba play, it’s clear that her passion comes from somewhere deep inside. In the first few minutes of a recent concert,” observes The New York Times in their profile on the 23-year old, “she erupted with low-register blasts, then worked her way up to the altissimo range of her tenor sax, her cheeks puffing as she summoned harsh multiphonic squeals.”
With spring now in full swing, we look forward to inhabiting the vibrant grounds surrounding the Zionskirche at the top of the Weinbergspark—taking time to reconnect with Kiezsalon regulars and meet newcomers.
The Zionskirche, inaugurated in 1873 and renovated just last year, was built in a neo-Romanesque style on a 52-metre-high vineyard at one of the highest altitudes in Berlin. Its 67-metre tower offers a panoramic view of the city, and its gardens are ideal for lingering before and after the concert with a glass of wine – especially on a warm spring evening. Check out the impressions from last year.
